Seal fob fabric processing machines



April 22, 1941# 4H. H. [LER 2,239,424

SEAL FOR FABRIC PROCESSING MACHINES A TTORNEYS.

April 22, 1941.

H. H. u ER SEAL FOR FABRIC PROCESSING MACHINES Filed April 30, 1938 2Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNEYS.

Patented Apr. 22, 1941 SEAL `rca FABRIC Paocnssme MACHINES Henry H. Iler, Greenville,

assignments, to Recon poration, Boston, United States S. C., assigner, by mesne struction Finance Cor- Mass., a corporation of the Application April 30, 1938, Serial No. 205,219

` (C1. (iS-,5)

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a, fabric processing machine such for instance as an ager; and has for one of its objects the sealing of the entrance opening through which the fabric passes to prevent the influx into the working chamber 0f outside air or gases and toprevent fumes or vapors in the working chamber from mixing with air about the machine;

Another object of the invention is to provide` a. machine of this `character which may be operated in a room or building with other machinery of a different character, rather than isolating the machine because of the fumes which may .come from the machine' and contaminate the surrounding air. i c

` Another objectof the invention is to provide a seal against the interchange of gases inside and outside the machine, which seal will be out of contact with the work and thus will remove a cause of smearing the work in cases Whereihe work has been freshly printed or dyed.

Another object of the invention is to prevent any condensation which may occur on the walls of the machine from running down and dripping on the work that the condensate may spot the work.

Another and more speciiic object of the inventionA is to collect the'gases in and about the Work at the entrance opening to the machine and carry them to some remote point where they vmay l be discharged that neither the surrounding outside air may enter the machine or the vapors or gases in the machine may exude thereirominto the outside air.

Another and more specic object of the invention is to control the amount of pick-up of these gas collectors by adjusting the same s0l that the desired pick-up'oif'gases in andiabout the entrance opening may be had.

Another objectof the invention is to raise the temperature of the ingoing fabric in order "that a higher temperature inside of the machiner will not cause vapors to cond-ense on the otherwise cooleringoing fabric surfaces before the fabric contacts with the 'first carrier rollinside of the machine, thereby often avoiding -the smearing" f freshly printed or dyed 'fabrics which are being treated. f

With these and'other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, as will be more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings: y Fig. 1 is an end elevation of a machine equipped with the sealing apparatus of this invention;

- of this invention,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a fiagmental portion of the machine with other parts broken away showing the relation of the operating parts;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a fragmental por- `tion of the machine through the entrance wall 'fabric enters some closed chamber and is eX- posed to steam, or vapors of a chemical nature. In order that the web of fabric may enter the chamber and pass therefrom, some opening must be provided, and this opening often permits some passage of the gases within the chamber to the outside, and some of the air outside into the chamber, which exchange is accentuated by the movement of the web of work' through the Opening; and in order to reduce this exchange of gases to a minimum, it is desirable to seal such opening, and sometimes rolls are used adjacent to the opening with which the work contacts. Rolls have a disadvantage in that smearing of freshly printed or dyed fabrics may' occur beforethe dye has become sufliciently set to prevent suc'h smearing; and accordingly, in order to provide both a better seal, and a seal which will not contact'the work,`I have arranged tubular collectors which will pick up gases adjacent the opening, and thus any air tending to enter the chamber will be picked up by my collectors, and any gases which escape from the chamber will be picked -up by my collectors, and" by picking up all of the gases in this manner adjacent the opening I nd that no 'exchange of gases takes place; and I may adjust these collectors in such a'manner as to control to a large extent" the amount collected, so that the desired effective results may be had; and the following isa more detailed description of the present embodiment A illustrating the preferred means by which these advantageous results may be accomplished:

With reference vto the drawings, I0 designatesv generally the ager to which thisinvention is applied, which comprises a chamber having enclosing Walls that the treatment of thefabric as it passes in a zigzag manner'over rolls within the chambermay be had. The chamber has' side, bottom, topand end Walls. The end wall with which we are concerned is designated II and provided with a slot I2 extending horizontally in this end wall II, and of a length to adequately receive the fabric in its full woven width. This opening is illustrated on a somewhat larger scale in Fig. 3 and is of a dimension across it sufcient to permit the exit web of fabric I3, and the entering web of fabric I4, to both pass through the opening I2 at the same time, and both out of contact with the edge walls of the opening or the other apparatus which is to be hereinafter described.

It sometimes happens that condensed uvapors from along the inner surface I5 of the wall IIA run down the inner wall yand drop upon the exiting web of fabric I3; and in order to catch any such condensate I pro-vide a lip or trough I6 (see Fig. 3) which extends inwardly and upwardly from the wall II to a substantial. extent and also completely through the wall and again upwardly to provide a trough I1. To more fully seal the collector trough or lip I6 against the entrance of any air, plastic material 56 is positioned between the wall of the chamber and the outwardly extending portion 51 of lthis generally S-'shaped part, that a more effective seal may be provided. In order to disperse any collection of such liquid which may trickle down the inside wall II and collect in trough I1 I provide a heating chamber I8 located in the wall within the trough I1 and :adjacent the opening I2, which chamber receives steam through entrance pipe I9 to heat the same, any condensationl or unused steam passing out through pipe 20. There is also a heating chamber 2I located within the wall II bel'ow the opening I2 similarly supplied with steam for maintaining the Wall warm and in a condition to evaporate any condensate which may form about this opening.

In order to collect gases which may escape through the opening I2 or collect outside gases or moisture from the fabric tending to enter the chamber as the fabric passes into the chamber I have provided tubular collector members and 26 extending from and rotatably mounted in a common conduit tube 21 into which the collector members 25 and 26 discharge. Each of these tubes is closed at its end distant from conduit 21 and is slotted as at 28 and the tubes are located close to the wall Il, the tube 25 being just above and the tube 26 being just below the horizontal plane of the upper and lower edges of opening I2, they being spaced sufficiently so as to be out of contact with the webs bf fabric as it Apasses into or from the working chamber. By rotating these tubes to the desired position by any means, such as handles 32, the slots 28 may be brought closer to or further from the fabric but will always be within a relatively short arc from the position shown in Fig. 3 for be-st accomplishing their desired result. This rotation is accomplished manually by grasping the handles 32 and moving them until the slot is in the desired location to pick upthe gases in its vicinity.

Steam pipes for heating the gases as they enter the collector members 25 and 26 Vare designated 35 and 36 and pass lengthwise through the collectors 25 and 26 and are located on either side of and closely adjacent the slot 28 so as to heat the lips of the slot and prevent possible condensationof vapor on the lips, rather causing any re-evaporatio-n sof any condensate on the inside of the collector members. These steam pipes 35 and 36 are joined by a U-piece 31 at one end and are flexibly connected at the other end to a steam supply source, as will be further described.

An additional function of collector tube 26 and of heating chamber 2I is that of raising the temperature of ingoing fabric in order that the inside temperature of the machine to which the seal is applied will be adversely affected as little as possible and to prevent possibility of vapors being condensed upon the relatively cooler ingoing fabric surfaces after entrance and before contacting the rst carrier roll inside of the machine. This feature assists materially in the avoidance of color smearing of freshly printed or dye fabrics being treated.

The common exhaust conduit for both of these collector members is operated by an exhaust fan 38 at its upper end which is driven by motor 39 to draw upwardly gases which may be collected by the collector members 25 and 26 and reduce the pressure in these collectors suflicient- 1y so that they will pick up whatever gases are present in the areas 40. The so collected gases are exhausted at some remote point'into the atmosphere through a conduit 4I that they will not disturb or contaminate the air about the machine, making it unnecessary for isolation of the machine in some location.

The exhaust conduit 21 is provided with a drain 42 for condensed vapors which is of S- shape as at 43, to provide a liquid trap and seal the exhaust conduit 21 while permitting discharge of any collected moisture through the discharge pipe 44.

Conduit 45 is connected with a steam source for the supply of steam to the fixed heaters I8 by their connections I 9 which are controlled by gate valve 46. Steam is supplied to the steam pipes 36 and 35 serially through the conduit 41 controlled by valve 41'. There is a flexible connection as at 48 to the iirst pipe 36. The pipe 35 from the upper collector 25 is connected to the upper pipe 36 of the lower collector 26 by a flexible connection 49, and there is a flexible connection 5U from the heating pipe 35 of the second collector 26 leading from this collector. These connections are of suicient flexibility to permit rotary adjustment of the collectors to position the Yslotted tube as desired. 'I'he discharge conduit from the collector tubes 5I and the discharge conduit 52 from the heating tubes I8 are connected together as at 53 t'o a steam trap 54 and then back through pipe 55 to the plants condensate return system or discharged to the atmosphere.

The foregoing description is directed solely towards the construction illustrated, but I desire it to be understood that I reserve the privilege of resorting to all the mechanical changes to which the device is susceptible, the invention being defined and limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a fabric processing machine having a working chamber formed by enclosing walls, one of said walls having an opening therein through which the web of fabric passes, spaced hollow collector members disposed on opposite sides of the traveling work each provided with a slot, suction means to cause the gases adjacent the work to be picked up by said members and conducted to some remote location, and heating means disposed along the edge of the slot of each of said collector members.

2. In a fabric processing machine having a working chamber formed by enclosing Walls, one

of said walls having an opening therein through which the web of fabric passes, a hollow collector member provided with a slot disposed adjacent to but out of contact with the work and in close proximity to said opening, means to cause the gases adjacent the work and said opening to be picked up by said member, and means to rotatably mount said member to position said slot in different positions relative to said work.

3. In a fabric processing machine, a working chamber formed by enclosing walls, one o! said walls having an opening therein through which the web of fabric passes, a collector member outwardly of and adjacent Saidopening and a trough adjacent said opening consisting of sheet material extending through the wall and inwardly thereof for collecting drip on the inner surface of said Wall and extending outwardly of the wall and engaging the collector member in a sealing manner, means providing a seal between the trough and the wall exterior of the Wall, and heating means in said trough for evaporating the drip collected.

HENRY H. ILER. 

